Good morning. Accounting standard setters and legislators in the U.S. and abroad are gearing up for the next set of rule changes and regulations that will keep chief financial officers on their toes in 2016 and beyond. From corporate tax plans to revenue from insurance contracts, CFOs will need to make sure their departments are sufficiently nimble to cope with the next wave of compliance demands.

CFOs received some breathing room when the Financial Accounting Standards Board disclosed it would allow companies to wait an until 2018—instead of 2017—to adopt rules governing how they account for deferred revenue from everything from cellphone contracts to car sales to software. Still, many large firms say they have been preparing parallel books in preparation for the rule changes, and a delay would be costly and unnecessary. Some indicated in comment letters to FASB that they would adopt the rule early, which FASB will allow.

And then there’s the matter of lease accounting, not to mention new standards for insurance contracts. But perhaps some of the biggest unsettled matters for financial chiefs as 2015 winds down are in the area of taxation. Still on the legislative tax agenda are the roughly 50 temporary tax provisions that expired at the end of 2014 known as tax extenders, including the research-and-development tax credit and the “bonus depreciation” tax break that helps companies accelerate deductions for capital investments

CFO JOURNAL TODAY

Deals are taking longer to close. The average number of days U.S. acquirers are waiting to consummate their deal is 105 days, according to Dealogic, up 22% from last year, Kimberly S. Johnson reports. It’s the first time since 2009—at 104—that closings took 100 days or more.

THE DAY AHEAD

Costco is holding its own. While most retailers are right to fear Amazon.com Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. has a significant edge over both traditional and online rivals, writes Steven Russolillo for Ahead of the Tape. Analysts expect Costco to post fiscal first-quarter earnings Tuesday of $1.17 a share for the period ended in November. That would be up from $1.12 a year ago. And Costco has beaten analysts’ expectations in each of the past five quarters.

CORPORATE NEWS

Coal at a Consol Energy Inc. marine terminal in Baltimore. Consol shares were among the biggest losers in the energy sector Monday.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News

Energy-sector rout intensifies. Mild weather forecasts sent oil and natural-gas prices plunging and prompted widespread selling of energy-company shares. And things may be getting worse: Downstream businesses have proved a crucial source of support in oil and gas this year, but that is waning.

Chinese companies stuck in IPO logjam. The Chinese government’s grip and the country’s stock-market crash have snarled about 675 companies trying to sell a total of roughly $63 billion in stock. Listing requirements in China are daunting and sometimes arbitrary. Regulatory review of IPO applications can drag on for four or five years.

Newell Rubbermaid, Jarden in merger talks.Newell Rubbermaid Inc. and Jarden Corp. are in talks to combine, in a deal that would unite makers of products like Sharpie markers, Graco baby strollers and Mr. Coffee machines. The combined company would have around $14 billion in annual sales.

“Star Wars” carries its own marketing weight for Disney. The new “Star Wars” movie is so highly anticipated by dedicated fans of the franchise that Walt Disney Co. has been able to ease off on advertising spending and buck film-trailer trends. Massive built-in interest in the U.S. and other Western nations has allowed Disney to take creative risks on the “Force Awakens” marketing.

Canadian Pacific expected to revise terms of bid for Norfolk Southern.Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is expected to revise terms of its roughly $30 billion bid for rival Norfolk Southern Corp. as soon as Tuesday, with a complex plan that aims to put cash in shareholders’ hands ahead of a regulatory review of the deal. Shareholders could be paid as soon as May, provided the regulator approves a temporary trust structure that would keep the two railways independent during the regulatory review, which could take up to two years.

Keurig to be taken private in $13.9 billion deal.JAB Holding Co. said it is buying Keurig Green Mountain Inc. for $13.9 billion in the biggest coffee deal on record, adding the U.S. pioneer of single-serve pods to the European investment firm’s global coffee empire.

Icahn ups ante on Pep Boys.Icahn Enterprises said it was offering to buy Pep Boys – Manny Moe & Jack for $15.50 a share in cash, casting doubt on Bridgestone’s previously announced purchase of the car-parts and repair company. Pep Boys reached a deal in October to be acquired by Japanese tire company Bridgestone for $15 a share, or about $835 million. The Icahn offer values the firm at about $863 million. The Bridgestone deal also includes a potential breakup fee of $35 million.

Hillary Clinton wants to prevent companies from escaping the U.S. tax system by merging with a smaller foreign firm.

Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

Clinton plans a corporate “exit tax.” Hillary Clinton will propose an “exit tax” designed to discourage companies from leaving the U.S. tax system by merging with a smaller foreign firm. Her anti-inversion maneuver would be even more restrictive than President Obama’s proposals, which have gone nowhere in Congress, stopped by Republicans who say it amounts to erecting walls around the U.S. tax system rather than making it more favorable.

Toshiba accounting scandal draws record fine. Japanese regulators recommended imposing a $60 million fine against Toshiba Corp. for overstating its profit by $1.9 billion over seven years. The fine would be the biggest ever in Japan for accounting-related violations, though it is small compared with penalties U.S. companies have faced in such cases.

A fateful mistake haunts Goldman Sachs.GoldmanSachs Group Inc. faces fresh allegations that it failed to spot in time, then covered up, a share-count error that shortchanged Tibco Software Inc. investors by $100 million when the company was sold last year. The Tibco case is among a slew of lawsuits targeting bankers for their advice.

Why an old scam keeps landing in your inbox. Pump-and-dump stock schemes, chronicled in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” are getting new life from successive generations of technology, as the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. hacking case illustrates. Prosecutors and regulators say the high-tech exploit powered a fairly lowbrow purpose: lining up targets for ​stock scams and other crimes.

Antitrust cops put brakes on Staples, GE deals. The Federal Trade Commission filed a suit to block Staples Inc.’s takeover of Office Depot Inc., as General Electric Co. abandoned a $3.3 billion agreement to sell its appliances business to Electrolux AB amid a courtroom fight with the Department of Justice.

WTO approves $1 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods. The World Trade Organization said Canada and Mexico can impose $1.01 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods for meat-labeling rules that the WTO ruled discriminate against livestock from the U.S. trading partners. The decision caps a yearslong battle over country-of-origin labeling rules, known as COOL, in which the U.S. requires packages of beef, pork and other meat products to disclose where animals were born, raised and slaughtered.

Court has lump of coal for investment banks. The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in a case involving Rural/Metro Corp. and RBC Capital Markets could have wide-ranging implications for investment bankers, writes Ronald Barusch. “Based on the court’s opinion, aiding and abetting a director’s breach of duty could arise from almost any mistake the director makes; in the words of lawyers, simple negligence or failure to exercise due care would be sufficient. A sale of a company is a complicated process and almost everyone makes mistakes.”

ECONOMY

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen. Investors are expressing a growing certainty that the Fed will raise rates next week.

Yum Brands Inc., a restaurant operator based in Louisville, Ky., said Patrick Grismer will resign as finance chief in February to move closer to family members. He will help prepare the company’s 10-K annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and present at its investor conference in Texas later this week. The company said it would look internally and externally for his successor. Mr. Grismer has been CFO since 2012 and has been with the company since 2002. He received fiscal 2014 compensation valued at $3 million, including a salary of $707,500, a bonus of $267,410 and equity awards valued at $1.8 million, according to Yum’s most recent proxy.

Marriott International Inc., a hotel operator based in Bethesda, Md., named Kathleen Oberg as CFO, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Carl Berquist, who will retire at the end of the year. Ms. Oberg is currently CFO of its Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel unit, and has been with Marriott since 1999. Her compensation information wasn’t immediately disclosed. Mr. Berquist received 2014 compensation valued at $3.4 million, including a salary of $742,630, a bonus of $829,294 and equity awards valued at $1.7 million.

Donaldson Co., a filtration company based in Minneapolis, named Scott Robinson CFO, succeeding James Shaw, effective Tuesday. Mr. Shaw, who has served as CFO for four years, will take on the newly created role of chief financial compliance officer. Mr. Robinson, who was most recently CFO of data-storage and information-security firm Imation Corp., will receive a salary of $400,000, a bonus opportunity targeted at half that amount, and fiscal 2016 equity awards valued at $450,000, prorated based upon his service during the July-ending year.

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